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Sammy Obeid claims he was detained, refused entry in Japan; US comedian details experience
Sammy Obeid, the US comedian, claimed he was detained in Japan and refused entry, though he had shows scheduled there.
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Sammy Obeid, the US comedian, claimed he was detained in Japan and refused entry, though he had shows scheduled there. Obeid shared his experience via a string of posts on X.
“The Japanese government denied me entry and held me in solitary confinement for 24 hours over a standup comedy show with 40 attendees,” he wrote.
The comedian said he was being sent back to the US and apologized to his fans. Japanese authorities have not issued a statement on the matter at the time of writing.
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Obeid added that fans could either get a refund, transfer the ticket and catch his show elsewhere in the world, or stay tuned for a virtual show from the comedian. The 42-year-old shared the experience he faced.
What Sammy Obeid claimed about his experience in Japan
Obeid claimed that he had arrived in Tokyo two days before his performance, with two other comedians who seemed to have entered without incident. However, when it came to him, the comedian claimed that his US passport was put in a ‘wrinkled plastic bag’ and he was taken to a ‘painfully lit holding room’.
He was allegedly told that he was detained for ‘security reasons’ and that Japanese authorities needed more information for why he was there. Obeid went on to claim that authorities sought his ‘hour by hour’ plan while in Japan, and also asked for details of what he planned to do in the other countries he visited after Japan.
The comedian appeared to blame Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for him being denied entry to Japan, but there is no substantiation to back this claim. He also claimed his luggage was searched for ‘weapons and drugs’, and that he was kept in solitary confinement for 22 hours, during which time, he had no access to food or shower.
Why was Sammy Obeid detained?
Obeid explained that he was detained due to a visa technicality. Authorities told him he had not arrived on the ‘right visa’ to be an entertainer. Obeid explained his difficulty in getting the specific eligibility criteria for the visa they spoke of.
“Everyone I asked in the process was not able to get me the needed sponsorship. Also no one in Japan is paying me directly. Tickets are collected through a third party, US based app. So everyone I consulted with said I would be fine, as I had on previous trips. But I was not. And yea it's on me for not seeing this coming. But given everything I knew at the time, this was the best I could do to try to put on a show for the size crowd I have in Japan,” the comedian detailed.
Obeid describes himself as ‘Lebanese-Palestinian-Syrian-Italian-American’ on his IMDb profile. Born in Oakland, California, he's best known for the 1,001 day streak of consecutive comedy performances.
